I’m done pretending this is just a bad game. This is who we truly are — and it’s been the same story for years.
Every season repeats the same cycle. We beat average teams, everyone says “we’re so close,” and then when it counts, we get exposed by the top sides. Nothing changes. Absolutely nothing.
This isn’t about Penrith — they’re doing what elite teams do. It’s about Parramatta being stuck in mediocrity and calling it progress.
How much longer are we going to accept this?
We’ve had the same management, the same approach, the same excuses for over a decade. “We’re building,” “we’re improving,” “we’re close” — we’ve heard it all before. At some point, it just rings hollow.
Where is the accountability?
From the outside, it looks like there isn’t any. No urgency. No real pressure. Just the same people making the same decisions and expecting different results.
Let’s be honest — we’re not a serious premiership threat. We’re a team that needs everything to go perfectly just to compete. The moment momentum shifts, we crumble. That’s not bad luck — that’s poor structure.
Good teams don’t rely on emotion. Great teams operate with systems. We lack both when it matters most.
Fans keep turning up, keep believing, keep waiting — but for what? More of the same?
I’ll always support the club. But I won’t keep buying into the myth that we’re “almost there.”
We’re not.
And until real, fundamental change happens — not just small tweaks — we’ll keep witnessing the same story year after year.
Replies
I'm not panicking yet although I am concerned with our defensive ineptness.
We are 1 win ahead of where i expected us to be after round 4 so even if we lose to the tigers, which would be a big disappointment, we will still be on par with my expectations. Having said that I did not expect our defence to be this bad.
Exactly LB
There's also a lack of awareness about being 2 and 2 to start the year.
If we keep looking at that in isolation without looking any deeper, it looks great considering our draw.
But we didn't fight out two losses against elite teams, we didn't fight them at all, both games were completely over with points records broken by half time. You could argue both games were over in 20 minutes.
This team has been destroyed in the first 20mins of 4 from 4 games through the middle, that included the win-less Dragons - that is very concerning.
That is not building, it's retracting, and excusing our roster & performance due to opposition is something of our past.
We could've been sitting 2 from 4 after showing similar resiliance & defensive resolve to the end of 2025, & this site would've been buzzing.
Do you think Ryles looked happy enough in the presser with the 2 from 4 start?
Finally some common sense.
No, I bet Ryles wanted 4/4, but i'm sure he's had his schooner of reality and is planning for a winnable Tigers game this weekend to make it 3/5. I purposely didn't watch the game because I knew what to expect from a red-hot Panthers team, if you didn't see that loss coming then it's your fault, have your emptional outburst/tantrum and move on. If you haven't realised already, the other 15 NRL teams in the comp aren't even close to that level either.
We both agree, we're getting blown off the park early and there's a couple of squad members that aren't quite getting it done. Our R&R team need an overhaul because they're not landing key signatures, until this happens we will be struggling to compete with the teams that have a suprememly better roster.
However, I do think we will turn things around and we'll be looking good around Origin time. Enjoy the next couple of weeks and put the Panthers and Storm games in your rear-view mirror for your own mental well-being.
If we Eels supports want to see another premership win the board need to put on their big boy pants & either make some serious changes on recruitment of players & coaches or simply fuck off.
With the rumour Nathan Cleary being chased by the PNG Cheifs & the Warriors wanted to reunite the trio of Cleary's at NZ , why dont Parra sign them as $$$ money talks to a multi million dollar deals
There's only tw reasons Cleary will leave the Panthers.
We can't compete with the money the Chiefs will be able to throw at Clearly as it's tax-free, it's just not going to happen.
And, as much as I love the diversity of Parra and the surrounding suburbs, that's not quite gonna hit the mark for playing on internationally either.
Bring in a new Head of Football with good connections and influence in the game and we might start making progress with some of the other elite players in the game.
I think it will be the same as last year. We will finish strong and figure out defence out. Between then we will get smacked a few times
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